The ultimate postmodern novel? Calvino writes about different types of reading, of relating to books and stories, from various point-of-views; pleasure readers, detective-readers, academics, writers, politicians, and so on and so forth. Books as pleasure, work, weapons and help are all part of the discussion of what books are, and this is before Calvino starts going into fake books and dangerous books, until we, the reader, ends up with a simple story of reaching out to one another and connecting over books. Would give it five stars, but I'd like to let it sit and then re-read it in a few years. I think this is one of those books that'll keep on giving.

(Please don't count the number of times I've used the word "books" in this review.)